Digital BW, The Print

Igor,

>... the labels on my older bottles say "FS-4-C", "FS-4-M" etc, 
>the new ones I recently bought say "UTFS-2000-4-C", "UTFS-2000-4-M" etc.
> Does that make any difference?

Yes, the "UT" at the beginning is the key.  The plain "FS" is the older ink
and it's not as lightfast.

>> I think the main factor for avoiding the yellowing is avoiding the OBAs

> But papers without OBAs are more yellow by themselves,

True.  Some are brighter than others, and the best non-OBA papers actually
have a higher Lab L than many or the "brightened" papers.  However, it's
true that most seem to prefer the brightened papers.

> so what use will that be: it will not yellow because it is 
> already yellow.

There is some truth in that, but there also may be an effect on the way
pigments react on the paper.  It's hard for me to separate the factors that
cause the 50% patch hue changes.

From my perspective, I don't want any visible change, regardless of what
causes it.  I think customers will interpret any yellowing of a brightened
paper as evidence that I've sold them cheap paper.  Also, the matte board I
use is non-brightened (as I suspect are most), as such, the non-brightened
paper looks better next to it.

>... Kind of ivory

Yes, I prefer such a description.

>> Is it possible you're getting some exposure to ozone or 
>> other airborne pollutant that could be attacking the prints?

>Well yes, but it also happens to prints that are framed behind
> glass (but a lot slower).

>Just to make sure: Epson Ultrasmooth is virtually the 
>same as Premier Art Smooth, isn't it?

Yes.  As best I can tell (and get out of both Epson and Premier Art reps)
it's a 250 gsm weight version of the coating that is on Epson Premier Art
Scrapbook (205) and Premier Art 205.  I've noticed slight profiling
differences, but they may be batch and paper weight differences.  

I wonder if there are suppliers in the U.S. that would ship these products
are reasonable prices.  I've never looked into it.  I'll ask Premier if they
have any European distributors.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com